My Room Hi-Tech? Looks like it.

After reading these articles, my feelings are much greater toward using technology in my classroom. In circumstances where outside access becomes an issue, I feel that there must be ways to solve the problem. If you want your students to do work on computers they must all have equal access to resources. If the school itself does not have computers available, teachers should seek out alternatives. Is there somewhere else students can go to use computers? Can you get a grant to build your own lab? Can you find places to donate computers?

Through taking this class and reading all the articles we have blogged about I have decided that I really do need to use as much technology as I possible can. Greenhow basically summed the issue up for me in one sentence, “As good teachers we always want to know who our students are and where they start from so that we can tap into, reinforce, build on, and extend their knowledge and experiences in learning new things.” (Greenhow, 2008). I don’t want to be just a good teacher; I want to be a great teacher. It is rather small of me to balk at technology in the classroom just because it scares me. To be a great teacher I must use every possible method to reach my students, even the ones I am not yet comfortable with. In time, I know I will learn it.

I also have to concede that not using technology in the classroom will be an injustice to my students. “Students must be technologically fluent and able to use technology to solve problems with various sources of information, create new representations of their knowledge, and enhance their learning through the diverse strategies afforded by technology.” (Edyburn & Swain, 2007). If I deny them the opportunity to become familiar with technology in school, they will be at a disadvantage when they enter the workplace or go to college. Great teachers do not set their students up for failure, so I just need to suck it up and keep on learning more about technology and finding digital resources for my class.

Disadvantages for students can come in many forms. Certainly there will be students without computer access. The questions I posed earlier come back into play here. I can find outside sites with computer access for my students, write grants until I can get enough computers for my kids, or find places to donate computers. For students with learning disabilities, “Instructional and assistive technologies can greatly benefit struggling readers and students with language difficulties, computational problems, and so on.” (Edyburn & Swain, 2007). I have already learned about programs to help with such problems, and with a little research, I can certainly find many, many more. Initially, finding technological solutions for learning barriers will probably be on a case by case basis, but I am sure that as technology increasingly filters into the classroom such aids will become commonplace. To be a great teacher I will use every trick in the book, and find new ones, to help my students learn.

References
Edyburn, D. & Swain, C. (2007). Learning and Leading with Technology: Social
Justice Choice or Necessity. International Society for Technology in Education.

Greenhow, C. (2008). Learning and Leading with Technology: Who Are Today’s
Learners? International Society for Technology in Education.

My love for my ringtone notwithstanding...

All of you can certainly guess which way I’m going with this one; I am siding with Allen, cell phones should not be a part of the classroom. While Kolb makes a compelling argument in favor of their use, even sharing how, “a hearing impaired student can record audio on a cell phone to create text-written e-mails,” she fails to convince me. (Kolb, 2007) I do agree that the hearing impaired student should be allowed to use a cell phone in such a manner, but that is a unique situation in which the phone is truly an educational aid.

When I read Allen’s sentence, “I’ll just stop there, because the discussion on why a parent bought their child a Blackberry is so ridiculous my head may explode,” I had a true Southern Baptist, “Amen, my Brother!” moment. (Allen, 2007) Everything has its time and place, but cell phones in the classroom are just as disrespectful as chatspeak on a paper. Again, my only question is when are teachers going to put their feet down?

References

Allen, J. & Kolb, L. (2007). Learning and Leading with Technology: Should Cell
Phones be Banned from the Classroom. International Society for Technology in
Education.

DETH 2 CHTSPK!

In the argument over whether or not “chatspeak” is destroying English, I have to agree with Linda Howard. Chatspeak is clearly detrimental. Greg Monfils, a proponent of chatspeak, opens his argument for it with this enigmatic line, “A student of mine recently asked via e-mail, ‘hey, I cant find hw n the conf can u help.’” (Monfils, 2007) After reading that line for the twentieth time I still cannot entirely decipher it, and the “sentence” ends a question with a period!

I believe chatspeak is a disrespectful and inappropriate way of addressing a teacher. Howard states that chatspeak has “no place in academic, business, and other formal writing settings where it is essential that all individuals involved are using language that is clear and concise.” (Howard, 2007)

It is interesting that Monfils, who believes that chatspeak is just fine, teaches at a school where each student is given a laptop upon enrollment. That is hardly standard, and if it were to become so, schools should be the first place to insist upon following the basic rules of the English language. Monfils admits that, “the kids want to see if they can get away with it,” and then admits that he lets them. (Monfils, 2007) I am certain that he is trying to seem hip to his students by connecting with their new language, but he is setting a negative example by this allowance.

Students from the age prior to chatspeak commonly misspell words using spellings such as lite and nite due to mass marketing campaigns. With this new beast called chatspeak undermining students' proper use of the English language the only question I am left with is: why let it into your classroom?

References:

Howard, L. & Monfils, G. (2007). Learning and Leading with Technology: Is Chatspeak
Destroying English? International Society for Technology in Education.